Grasping At Ghosts
by TheLandOfChillies
Summary: White. Everything around him was a piercing, cool white. CloudxAerith


Summary: White. Everything around him was a piercing, cool white. CloudxAerith

Disclaimer; I don't own Final Fantasy 7.

This was written in under a hour. I have seriously wanted to so some Clerith angst, and this idea presented itself gift wrapped.

Grasping At Ghosts:

He dared not believe it.

White. Everything around him was a piercing, cool white which had stung his eyes as he had been flung into that colourless oblivion. He stood motionless, mako blue eyes narrowing as they inspected the endless landscape which seemed to suffocate yet release him at the same time, for the white was so enclosing but yet, seemed so vast.

He then became aware of the flowers; the ground on which he stood was laden in flashes of green, yellow and white, stalks standing tall and proud, leaning towards a sunless sky, their leaves pert with their petals colourful and silky. Cloud felt the breath hitch in his throat, as a growing warmth began to exude behind him. He dared himself to gently tilt his head, causing him to glimpse a flash of pink from the corner of his eye. His chest tightening, Cloud lowered his head to the ground in silent shame as a gentle, light voice greeted him, shattering the deafening silence:

"You came!"

It was her. Of course it was her. He had known as soon as he had seen the plants grow from within that lifeless soil; for only one he knew had been able to coax life out of something which to the naked eye, had seemed so dead.

A tight pain was slowly beginning to cross his heart as a realisation hit him. That woman, that graceful creature which had snapped like a wooden doll underneath the watchful, emotionless eye of a monster clad in black, the body which he had held whose hair had became wet with his tears as his tongue became bitter with words of grief, as if mere words could ebb back the life into that empty shell which lay torn in his hands, was standing right behind him.

Cloud suddenly had an overwhelming desire to touch her, to feel her, to assure himself that was happening….._right now_…..was not just a beautiful, but cruel dream. His body refused to respond to what his mind was screaming; his hands hung uselessly by his sides, his mouth remained clamped shut. Typical. Typical _him. _Always so weak.

He had so much he wanted to say, so much that had been kept locked in his heart for the past two years_, yet the words just wouldn't come out_. And yet, it seemed pointless to utter anything there, to voice any emotion or feeling because it had fallen on Cloud's attention that the mysterious girl already _knew._

"Even when you were about to break….."

Those words again. Again, he frantically urged himself to speak, but the words were oddly lost in his throat, causing them to have sounded alien on his tongue. He leant back slightly, feeling the soft cotton of her dress as it rubbed against his back, the rough label of her little coat ghosting against the tip of his spine. A slight wind seemed to form itself from nothing; gently blowing against the pair, causing a curly, delicate bang to fly up and tickle his ear.

"But that's a good sign…..hm?"

A tender touch to his shoulder caused shiver's to race up Cloud's bones as he forced himself to remain looking straight ahead. He felt the pale fingertips dance along the scar craftily hidden on his right arm, as a small sigh reached his ears. To his disappointment, the hand was suddenly pulled away.

"But why did you come?"

A question. A question only he could answer. And this time, he found himself able to speak, as if the guilt which had weighed down his body had been lifted off tired shoulders, and suddenly the white world around him seemed to sharpen.

"I think…..I want to be forgiven…." His intensive blue eyes slowly glazed over with compassion. "More then….anything."

He could almost had pictured the slight smile on the girl's face as he said those words; almost see the light that would have sparked in those emerald eyes. A small silence dawned on Cloud, as he watched the landscape, oddly contented in this place of peace and secrets, in the company of one he had long thought lost.

He never expected her to answer.

Voice traced with amusement, she laughed softly, causing him to stiffen from the nostalgic sound which once had been bound in hazy memory.

"By who?"

Cloud's eyes widened as a wave of panic suddenly clawed at his chest. He swept his head around to look into those eyes, to confirm that was not a lie breathed on her lips….

Only to be greeted with the roaring sound of Fernir, and a heartbeat which donned loud beats in his head, as a cruel and endless road stretched out in front of him, searching for something which he always seemed to find, yet always seemed to miss.


End file.
